And second, the protagonist is male - a schoolboy of an unspecified age - whereas everything else I have read by her has been told from a female perspective.īut the trademarks are still present: sparse, yet lyrical, prose characters who are lonely or damaged themes of loss and tragedy. Not surprisingly, it’s excellent, but it’s not what I would describe as “typical” Johnston fare.įirst, it’s set in Northern Ireland - Derry, to be precise (where, I believe, Johnston herself now resides) - unlike much of her later work which is Dublin or London-based. I was eager to read Shadows on our Skin, first published in 1977, to see how it compared to her later novels. While I’m familiar with most of her hugely extensive back catalogue, I haven’t really touched her earlier work. Jennifer Johnston is my favourite living writer. Fiction – paperback Headline Review 224 pages 2004.
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